Imagery


The word Imagery is from the Latin imago, meaning "to imagine" and imitari, meaning "to imitate."

Imagery is the formation of mental images, figures, or likenesses of things through words. Imagery is the use of language to represent actions, persons, objects, and ideas descriptively. This means encompassing the senses (touch, sight, scent, smell, taste) rather than just forming a mental picture.


In The Stranger the bright, piercing heat of the sun is described vividly. The reader feels the sharp, knife-like heat of the sun's rays and, like Meursault, rejoices in the refreshing calm of the ocean.
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In Chronicle of a Death Foretold the scene when the priest autopsies Santiago NAsar is very good, albeit gruesome, imagery. The reader sees the gore and is repulsed by it. We can smell the decomposition and the rot of the whole affair.

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